First Image of Idris Elba in Guillermo del Toro’s PACIFIC RIM

It’s been nearly four years since Guillermo del Toro’s last directorial project (Hellboy II), but he recently wrapped a brand new directorial effort: Pacific Rim. The film involves “the finest fucking monsters ever committed to screen” and centers on a battle between ginormous creatures and human-manned robots. Del Toro recently talked about building several blocks of Hong Kong for the film only to demolish them all, and now the first image from Pacific Rim has landed online. While it’s not exactly a still from a scene, it gives us our first look at star Idris Elba in his Pacific Rim costume, and we start to get a feel for the atmosphere that del Toro will be bringing to the project. Though he only recently entered post-production, I expect we’ll get our first look at footage at Comic-Con in a couple of weeks. You can read our recent interview with Elba, in which he talks about working on Pacific Rim, right here.

Hit the jump to check out the image. The film also stars Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Ron Perlman. Pacific Rim opens on July 12th, 2013.

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Slated for release in Summer 2013, “Pacific Rim” is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

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